K'taka Minister says state is frontrunner in creating ecosystem for startups

"The top rankings achieved at the national level by the institutions led by the state government establish the fact that Karnataka had been the frontrunner in creating the ecosystem needed for startups, with a focus on bio and health sciences," said Ashwatha Narayana.

Bengaluru:Karnataka Higher Education and Minister for Information Technology (IT), Biotechnology (BT), and Skill Development CN Ashwatha Narayana on Saturday said that the state has been a frontrunner in creating the ecosystem needed for startups. "The top rankings achieved at the national level by the institutions led by the state government establish the fact that Karnataka had been the frontrunner in creating the ecosystem needed for startups, with a focus on bio and health sciences," said Narayana.

His remarks came as Karnataka's Bio-Incubators, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre (BBC) and C-Camp (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms) attained the first and the second rank respectively in the prestigious Biospectrum annual survey for bio incubators under the public sector category. The two incubators supported by the Karnataka Department of Electronics, IT, BT, and Science and Technology start-ups have bagged the top two rankings at the national level, Narayana said.

These two initiatives of the department of IT/BT are supported through the department's nodal agency Karnataka Innovative Technological Society (KITS). In addition to this, the Manipal bio incubator, which is also incubated through KITS has secured the fifth ranking in the private sector category, said Narayana.

"This time 40 bio incubators across the country were included in the survey. The survey reflects the quality of services provided to startups, the IPs filed, investments brought, etc," said the Minister